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Architecture of Mesopotamia
1
Architecture of Mesopotamia
The architecture of Mesopotamia is the ancient
architecture of the region of the Tigris–Euphrates river
system (also known as Mesopotamia), encompassing
several distinct cultures and spanning a period from the
10th millennium BC, when the first permanent
structures were built, to the 6th century BC. Among the
Mesopotamian architectural accomplishments are the
development of urban planning, the courtyard house,
and ziggurats. No architectural profession existed in
Mesopotamia; however, scribes drafted and managed
construction for the government, nobility, or royalty.
The Mesopotamians regarded 'the craft of building' as a
divine gift taught to men by the gods as listed in me 28.
A reconstructed ziggurat in Babylon
Building materials
The story of Mesopotamian architecture begins in southeastern Turkey with the erection of large monoliths at the site
of Göbekli Tepe. It is overwhelmingly one of clay masonry and of increasingly complex forms of stacked mudbrick.
Adobe-brick was preferred over vitreous brick because of its superior thermal properties and lower manufacturing
costs. Red brick was used in small applications involving water, decoration, and monumental construction. A late
innovation was glazed vitreous brick. Sumerian masonry was usually mortarless although bitumen was sometimes
used. Brick styles, which varied greatly over time, are categorized by period.[1]
• Patzen 80×40×15 cm: Late Uruk period (3600–3200 BCE)
• Riemchen 16×16 cm: Late Uruk period (3600–3200 BCE)
• Plano-convex 10x19x34 cm: Early Dynastic Period (3100–2300 BCE)
Since rounded bricks are somewhat unstable, Mesopotamian bricklayers would lay a row of bricks perpendicular to
the rest every few rows. The advantages to plano-convex bricks were the speed of manufacture as well as the
irregular surface which held the finishing plaster coat better than a smooth surface from other brick types.
Because these bricks were sun baked, buildings eventually deteriorated. They were periodically destroyed, leveled,
and rebuilt on the same spot. This planned structural life cycle gradually raised the level of cities, so that they came
to be elevated above the surrounding plain. The resulting hills are known as tells, and are found throughout the
ancient Near East. Civic buildings slowed decay by using cones of colored stone, terracotta panels, and clay nails
driven into the adobe-brick to create a protective sheath that decorated the facade.
Espcecially prized were imported building materials such as cedar from Lebanon, diorite from Arabia, and lapis
lazuli from India.
Babylonian temples are massive structures of crude brick, supported by buttresses, the rain being carried off by
drains. One such drain at Ur was made of lead. The use of brick led to the early development of the pilaster and
column, and of frescoes and enamelled tiles. The walls were brilliantly coloured, and sometimes plated with zinc or
gold, as well as with tiles. Painted terra-cotta cones for torches were also embedded in the plaster. Assyria, imitating
Babylonian architecture, also built its palaces and temples of brick, even when stone was the natural building
material of the country — faithfully preserving the brick platform, necessary in the marshy soil of Babylonia, but
little needed in the north.
Architecture of Mesopotamia
As time went on, however, later Assyrian architects began to shake
themselves free of Babylonian influence, and to use stone as well as
brick. The walls of Assyrian palaces were lined with sculptured and
coloured slabs of stone, instead of being painted as in Chaldea. Three
stages may be traced in the art of these bas-reliefs: it is vigorous but
simple under Ashurnasirpal II, careful and realistic under Sargon II,
and refined but wanting in boldness under Ashurbanipal.
In Babylonia, in place of the bas relief, there is greater use of
three-dimensional figures in the round — the earliest examples being
the statues from Girsu, that are realistic if somewhat clumsy. The
paucity of stone in Babylonia made every pebble precious, and led to a
An Assyrian winged bull, also known as a shedu,
high perfection in the art of gem-cutting. Two seal-cylinders from the
Bas-relief c. 713–716 BC
age of Sargon of Akkad are among the best examples of their kind.
One of the first remarkable specimens of early metallurgy to be
discovered by archaeologists is the silver vase of Entemena. At a later epoch, great excellence was attained in the
manufacture of such jewellery as earrings and bracelets of gold. Copper, too, was worked with skill; indeed, it is
possible that Babylonia was the original home of copper-working.
The people were famous at an early date for their embroideries and rugs. The forms of Assyrian pottery are graceful;
the porcelain, like the glass discovered in the palaces of Nineveh, was derived from Egyptian models. Transparent
glass seems to have been first introduced in the reign of Sargon. Stone, clay and glass were used to make vases, and
vases of hard stone have been dug up at Girsu similar to those of the early dynastic period of Egypt.
The Tigris-Euphrates plain lacked minerals. Sumerian structures were made of plano-convex mudbrick, not fixed
with mortar or cement. Mud-brick buildings eventually deteriorate, so they were periodically destroyed, leveled, and
rebuilt on the same spot. This constant rebuilding gradually raised the level of cities, which thus came to be elevated
above the surrounding plain. The resultant hills, known as tells, are found throughout the ancient Near East.
The study of ancient Mesopotamian architecture is based on available archaeological evidence, pictorial
representation of buildings, and texts on building practices. According to Archibald Sayce, the primitive pictograms
of the Uruk period era suggest that "Stone was scarce, but was already cut into blocks and seals. Brick was the
ordinary building material, and with it cities, forts, temples and houses were constructed. The city was provided with
towers and stood on an artificial platform ; the house also had a tower-like appearance. It was provided with a door
which turned on a hinge, and could be opened with a sort of key ; the city gate was on a larger scale, and seems to
have been double. ... Demons were feared who had wings like a bird, and the foundation stones - or rather bricks - of
a house were consecrated by certain objects that were deposited under them."[2]
Scholarly literature usually concentrates on the architecture of temples, palaces, city walls and gates, and other
monumental buildings, but occasionally one finds works on residential architecture as well.[3] Archaeological surface
surveys also allowed for the study of urban form in early Mesopotamian cities.
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Architecture of Mesopotamia
Urban planning
The Sumerians were the first society to create the city itself as a built form. They were proud of this achievement as
attested in the Epic of Gilgamesh which opens with a description of Uruk its walls, streets, markets, temples, and
gardens. Uruk itself is significant as the center of an urban culture which both colonized and urbanized western Asia.
The construction of cities was the end product of trends which began in the Neolithic Revolution. The growth of the
city was partly planned and partly organic. Planning is evident in the walls, high temple district, main canal with
harbor, and main street. The finer structure of residential and commercial spaces is the reaction of economic forces to
the spatial limits imposed by the planned areas resulting in an irregular design with regular features. Because the
Sumerians recorded real estate transactions it is possible to reconstruct much of the urban growth pattern, density,
property value, and other metrics from cuneiform text sources.
The typical city divided space into residential, mixed use, commercial, and civic spaces. The residential areas were
grouped by profession.[4] At the core of the city was a high temple complex always sited slightly off of the
geographical center. This high temple usually predated the founding of the city and was the nucleus around which
the urban form grew. The districts adjacent to gates had a special religious and economic function.
The city always included a belt of irrigated agricultural land including small hamlets. A network of roads and canals
connected the city to this land. The transportation network was organized in three tiers: wide processional streets
(Akkadian:sūqu ilāni u šarri), public through streets (Akkadian:sūqu nišī), and private blind alleys (Akkadian:mūṣû).
The public streets that defined a block varied little over time while the blind-alleys were much more fluid. The
current estimate is 10% of the city area was streets and 90% buildings.[5] The canals; however, were more important
than roads for transportation.
Houses
The materials used to build a Mesopotamian house were the same as those used today: mud brick, mud plaster and
wooden doors, which were all naturally available around the city,[6] although wood could not be naturally made very
well during the particular time period described. Most houses had a square center room with other rooms attached to
it, but a great variation in the size and materials used to build the houses suggest they were built by the inhabitants
themselves.[7] The smallest rooms may not have coincided with the poorest people; in fact, it could be that the
poorest people built houses out of perishable materials such as reeds on the outside of the city, but there is very little
direct evidence for this.[8]
Residential design was a direct development from Ubaid houses. Although Sumerian cylinder seals depict reed
houses, the courtyard house was the predominant typology, which has been used in Mesopotamia to the present day.
This house called e (Cuneiform: ҂, E2; Sumerian: e2; Akkadian: bītu) faced inward toward an open courtyard which
provided a cooling effect by creating convection currents. This courtyard called tarbaṣu (Akkadian) was the primary
organizing feature of the house, all the rooms opened into it. The external walls were featureless with only a single
opening connecting the house to the street. Movement between the house and street required a 90° turn through a
small antechamber. From the street only the rear wall of the antechamber would be visible through an open door,
likewise there was no view of the street from the courtyard. The Sumerians had a strict division of public and private
spaces. The typical size for a Sumerian house was 90 m2.[9]
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Architecture of Mesopotamia
Palace
The palace came into existence during the Early Dynastic I period. From a rather modest beginning the palace grows
in size and complexity as power is increasingly centralized. The palace is called a 'Big House' (Cuneiform: E2.GAL
Sumerian e2-gal Akkdian: ekallu) where the lugal or ensi lived and worked.
The palaces of the early Mesopotamian elites were large-scale complexes, and were often lavishly decorated. Earliest
known examples are from the Diyala River valley sites such as Khafajah and Tell Asmar. These third millennium
BC palaces functioned as a large-scale socio-economic institutions, and therefore, along with residential and private
function, they housed craftsmen workshops, food storehouses, ceremonial courtyards, and are often associated with
shrines. For instance, the so-called "giparu" (or Gig-Par-Ku in Sumerian) at Ur where the Moon god Nanna's
priestesses resided was a major complex with multiple courtyards, a number of sanctuaries, burial chambers for dead
priestesses, and a ceremonial banquet hall. A similarly complex example of a Mesopotamian palace was excavated at
Mari in Syria, dating from the Old Babylonian period.
Assyrian palaces of the Iron Age, especially at Kalhu/Nimrud, Dur Sharrukin/Khorsabad and Ninuwa/Nineveh, have
become famous due to the pictorial and textual narrative programs on their walls, all carved on stone slabs known as
orthostats. These pictorial programs either incorporated cultic scenes or the narrative accounts of the kings' military
and civic accomplishments. Gates and important passageways were flanked with massive stone sculptures of
apotropaic mythological figures. The architectural arrangement of these Iron Age palaces were also organized
around large and small courtyards. Usually the king's throne room opened to a massive ceremonial courtyard where
important state councils met and state ceremonies were performed.
Massive amounts of ivory furniture pieces were found in many Assyrian palaces pointing to an intense trade
relationship with North Syrian Neo-Hittite states at the time. There is also good evidence that bronze repousse bands
decorated the wooden gates.
Temples
Temples often predated the creation of the urban settlement and grew from small one room structures to elaborate
multiacre complexes across the 2,500 years of Sumerian history. Sumerian temples, fortifications, and palaces made
use of more advanced materials and techniques, such as buttresses, recesses, and half columns. Chronologically,
Sumerian temples evolved from earlier Ubaid temples. As the temple decayed it was ritually destroyed and a new
temple built on its foundations. The successor temple was larger and more articulated than its predecessor temple.
The evolution of the E2.abzu temple at Eridu is a frequently cited case-study of this process. Many temples had
inscriptions engraved into them, such as the one at Tell Uqair. Palaces and city walls came much later after temples
in the Early Dynastic Period.
The form of a Sumerian temple is manifestation of Near Eastern cosmology, which described the world as a disc of
land which was surrounded by a salt water ocean, both of which floated on another sea of fresh water called apsu,
above them was a hemispherical firmament which regulated time. A world mountain formed an axis mundi that
joined all three layers. The role of the temple was to act as that axis mundi, a meeting place between gods and
men.[10] The sacredness of 'high places' as a meeting point between realms is a pre-Ubaid belief well attested in the
Near East back the Neolithic age. The plan of the temple was rectangular with the corners pointing in cardinal
directions to symbolize the four rivers which flow from the mountain to the four world regions. The orientation also
serves a more practical purpose of using the temple roof as an observatory for Sumerian timekeeping. The temple
was built on a low terrace of rammed earth meant to represent the sacred mound of primordial land which emerged
from the water called dukug, 'pure mound' (Sumerian: du6-ku3 Cuneiform:) during creation.
The doors of the long axis were the entry point for the gods, and the doors of the short axis the entry point for men.
This configuration was called the bent axis approach, as anyone entering would make a ninety degree turn to face the
cult statue at the end of the central hall. The bent axis approach is an innovation from the Ubaid temples which had a
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Architecture of Mesopotamia
linear axis approach, and is also a feature of Sumerian houses. An offering table was located in the center of the
temple at the intersection of the axes.
Temples of the Uruk Period divided the temple rectangle into tripartite, T-shaped, or combined plans The tripartite
plan inherited from the Ubaid had a large central hall with two smaller flanking halls on either side. The entry was
along the short axis and the shrine was at the end of the long axis. The T-shaped plan, also from the Ubaid period,
was identical to the tripartite plan except for a hall at one end of the rectangle perpendicular to the main hall. Temple
C from the Eanna district of Uruk is a case-study of classical temple form.
There was an explosion of diversity in temple design during the following Early Dynastic Period. The temples still
retained features such as cardinal orientation, rectangular plans, and buttresses. Now however they took on a variety
new configurations including courtyards, walls, basins, and barracks. The Sin Temple in Khafajah is typical of a this
era, it was designed around a series of courtyards leading to a cella.
The high temple was a special type of temple that was home to the patron god of the city. Functionally, it served as a
storage and distribution center as well as housing the priesthood. The White Temple of Anu in Uruk is typical of a
high temple which was built very high on a platform of adobe-brick. In the Early Dynastic period high temples
began to include a ziggurat, a series of platforms creating a stepped pyramid. Such ziggurats may have been the
inspiration for the Biblical Tower of Babel.
Ziggurats
Ziggurats were huge pyramidal temple towers built in the ancient
Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form of a
terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels. There
are 32 ziggurats known at, or near, Mesopotamia—28 in Iraq and 4 in
Iran. Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near
Nasiriyah, Iraq, the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near Baghdad, Iraq, Chogha
Zanbil in Khūzestān, Iran (the most recent to be discovered), and the
Sialk near Kashan, Iran. Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians,
Babylonians, Elamites, and Assyrians as monuments to local religions.
The earliest examples of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date
A suggested reconstruction of the appearance of a
Sumerian ziggurat
from the Ubaid period[11] during the fourth millennium BC, and the
latest date from the 6th century BC. The top of the ziggurat was flat,
unlike many pyramids. The step pyramid style began near the end of the Early Dynastic Period.[12]
Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure.
Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. The facings were often
glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on
these glazed bricks. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven, with a shrine or temple at the summit. Access to
the shrine was provided by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit. It
has been suggested that ziggurats were built to resemble mountains, but there is little textual or archaeological
evidence to support that hypothesis.
Classical ziggurats emerged in the Neo-Sumerian Period with articulated buttresses, vitreous brick sheathing, and
entasis in the elevation. The Ziggurat of Ur is the best example of this style. Another change in temple design in this
period was a straight as opposed to bent-axis approach to the temple.
Ur-Nammu's ziggurat at Ur was designed as a three-stage construction, but today only two of these survive. This
entire mudbrick core structure was originally given a facing of baked brick envelope set in bitumen, 2.5 m on the
first lowest stage, and 1.15 m on the second. Each of these baked bricks were stamped with the name of the king.
The sloping walls of the stages were buttressed. The access to the top was by means of a triple monumental staircase,
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Architecture of Mesopotamia
which all converges at a portal that opened on a landing between the first and second stages. The height of the first
stage was about 11 m while the second stage rose some 5.7 m. Usually, a third stage is reconstructed by the
excavator of the ziggurat (Leonard Woolley), and crowned by a temple. At the Tschoga Zanbil ziggurat,
archaeologists have found massive reed ropes that ran across the core of the ziggurat structure and tied together the
mudbrick mass.
The most notable architectural remains from early Mesopotamia are the temple complexes at Uruk from the 4th
millennium BC, temples and palaces from the Early Dynastic period sites in the Diyala River valley such as
Khafajah and Tell Asmar, the Third Dynasty of Ur remains at Nippur (Sanctuary of Enlil) and Ur (Sanctuary of
Nanna), Middle Bronze Age remains at Syrian-Turkish sites of Ebla, Mari, Alalakh, Aleppo and Kultepe, Late
Bronze Age palaces at Bogazkoy (Hattusha), Ugarit, Ashur and Nuzi, Iron Age palaces and temples at Assyrian
(Kalhu/Nimrud, Khorsabad, Nineveh), Babylonian (Babylon), Urartian (Tushpa/Van Kalesi, Cavustepe, Ayanis,
Armavir, Erebuni, Bastam) and Neo-Hittite sites (Karkamis, Tell Halaf, Karatepe). Houses are mostly known from
Old Babylonian remains at Nippur and Ur. Among the textual sources on building construction and associated rituals
are Gudea's cylinders from the late 3rd millennium are notable, as well as the Assyrian and Babylonian royal
inscriptions from the Iron Age.
The most impressive and famous of Sumerian buildings are the ziggurats, large layered platforms which supported
temples. Some scholars have theorized that these structures might have been the basis of the Tower of Babel
described in Genesis. Sumerian cylinder seals also depict houses built from reeds not unlike those built by the Marsh
Arabs of Southern Iraq until as recently as 400 AD. The Sumerians also developed the arch, which enabled them to
develop a strong type of roof called a dome. They built this by constructing several arches.
Sumerian temples and palaces made use of more advanced materials and techniques, such as buttresses, recesses,
half columns, and clay nails.
Design of Assyrian buildings, fortifications and temples
The plans of all the Assyrian buildings are rectangular, and we know
that long ago, as now, the Eastern architects used this outline almost
invariably, and upon it reared some of the most lovely and varied
forms ever devised. They gather over the angles by graceful curves,
and on the basis of an ordinary square hall carry up a minaret or a
dome, an octagon or a circle. That this was sometimes done in Assyria
is shown by the sculptures. Slabs from Kouyunjik show domes of
varied form, and tower-like structures, each rising from a square base.
The resemblance between the ancient form of the dome and those still
used in the Assyrian villages is very striking. Whether sloping roofs
were used is uncertain. Mr. Bonomi believes that they were, and a few
sculptures seem to support his view. Of the private houses nothing, of
course, remains; but they are represented on the slabs as being of
several stories in height, the ground floor as usual having only a door
and no windows. All have flat roofs, and we gather from one of the
Tell Asmar votive sculpture 2750-2600 B.C
bas-reliefs, which represents a town on fire, that these roofs were
made, just as they now are, with thick layers of earth on strong beams.
These roofs are well-nigh fireproof, and the flames are represented as stopped by them, and coming out of the
windows. No remains of a window, or, so far as we are aware, of an internal staircase, have been found.
Of the fortifications we know much more. In the north wall of Nimroud fifty-eight towers have been traced, and at
Kouyunjik there are large remains of three walls, the lower part being of stone, and the upper of sun-dried bricks. At
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Architecture of Mesopotamia
Khorsabad there are the remains of a wall, still 40 feet (12 m) high, built of blocks of stone 3 to 4 feet (1.2 m) thick,
and the evidences wanting as to finishing of these is completely supplied by the sculptures, which show an
extraordinary resemblance to medieval works of the same class. Tier upon tier of walls are represented, enclosing a
great tower or keep in the centre. The entrances are great arched gateways flanked by square towers. These and the
other towers have overhanging parapets just like the mediaeval machicolations, and are finished at top with
battlements, remains of which have been found at Nimroud and Kouyunjik, and at Kale Shortage, the supposed
capital of Assyria before Nineveh.
Of temples distinct from the palace we have a few supposed remains, but little is absolutely known as to their general
form.
But in Chaldea there are some enormous masses of ruins, evidently remains of the vast mounds which formed the
substructure of their temples. The grandest of all these and the most interesting is the temple of Nuba at Borsippa
(now Birs Nimrod), near Babylon, which has been identified as the temple of the Seven Spheres. This was
reconstructed by Nebuchadnezzar, as appears by a well-known inscription. Another example is at Muggier, which
was 198 feet (60 m) by 133 feet (41 m) at the base, and is even now 70 feet (21 m) high, and it is clear that both it
and the Birs were built with diminishing stages, presenting a series of grand platforms, decreasing in length as they
ascended, and leaving a comparatively small one at top for the temple cell. This has been found, it is supposed, at the
Birs Nimroud, of vitrified brick.
Landscape architecture
Text sources indicate open space planning was a part of the city from the earliest times. The description of Uruk in
the Epic of Gilgamesh tells of one third of that city set aside for orchards. Similar planned open space is found at the
one fifth enclosure of Nippur. Another important landscape element was the vacant lot (Akkadian: kišubbû) which
was used alternatively for agriculture and waste disposal.[13]
External to the city, Sumerian irrigation agriculture created some of the first garden forms in history. The garden
(sar) was 144 square cubits with a perimeter canal.[14] This form of the enclosed quadrangle was the basis for the
later paradise gardens of Persia.
In Mesopotamia, the use of fountains date as far back as the 3rd millennium BC. An early example is preserved in a
carved Babylonian basin, dating back to circa 3000 B.C., found at Girsu, Lagash. An ancient Assyrian fountain
"discovered in the gorge of the Comel River consists of basins cut in solid rock and descending in steps to the
stream." The water was led from small conduits.[15]
References
[1] Harmansah, 2007
[2] Sayce, Rev. A. H., Professor of Assyriology, Oxford, "The Archaeology of the Cuneiform Inscriptions" (http:/ / www. archive. org/ stream/
archaeologyofcun00sayc/ archaeologyofcun00sayc_djvu. txt), Second Edition-revised, 1908, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,
London, Brighton, New York; at pages 98-100 Not in copyright (http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/ archaeologyofcun00sayc)
[3] Dunham, Sally (2005). "Ancient Near Eastern architecture". In Daniel Snell. A Companion to the Ancient Near East. Oxford: Blackwell.
pp. 266–280. ISBN 0-631-23293-1.
[4] Crawford 2004, p.77
[5] Baker, 2009
[6] Nicholas Postgate, J N Postgate (1994). Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History.
[7] "The first cities: Why Settle Down? The Mystery of Communities – Balter 282 (5393): 1442 – Science" (http:/ / www. sciencemag. org/ cgi/
content/ full/ 282/ 5393/ 1442). Sciencemag.org. doi:10.1126/science.282.5393.1442. . Retrieved 2010-04-17.
[8] Susan Pollock (1999). Ancient Mesopotamia.
[9] Baker, 2009
[10] Mendenhall, 1983 p205-208
[11] Crawford, p. 73
[12] Crawford, pp. 73-74
[13] Baker, 2009
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Architecture of Mesopotamia
[14] Wikipedia, Sumer
[15] "fountain" (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 214794/ fountain). Encyclopædia Britannica. . Retrieved 2010-03-18.
Further reading
• Baker, H.D. (forthcoming) (pdf). The Urban Landscape in First Millennium BC Babylonia.. University of
Vienna.
• Crawford, Harriet E. W. (2004). Sumer and the Sumerians (http://books.google.com/?id=eX8y3yW04n4C).
Cambridge University Press. pp. 252. ISBN 0521533384.
• Downey, Susan B. (1988). Mesopotamian Religious Architecture: Alexander Through the Parthians (http://
books.google.com/?id=NZ71HQAACAAJ&dq=susan+downey). Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
pp. 197. ISBN 069103589X.
• Harmansah, Ömür (2007-12-03). "The Archaeology of Mesopotamia: Ceremonial centers, urbanization and state
formation in Southern Mesopotamia" (http://proteus.brown.edu/mesopotamianarchaeology/699). Retrieved
2008-08-11
• Kostof, Spiro (1995). A history of architecture : settings and rituals (http://books.google.com/
?id=H3CuRTbgGkIC&dq=A+history+of+architecture+:+settings+and+rituals). New York: Oxford
University Press. pp. 792. ISBN 0195083784.
• Mendenhall, George; Herbert Bardwell Huffmon, Frank A. Spina, Alberto Ravinell Whitney Green (1983). The
Quest for the Kingdom of God: Studies in Honor of George E. Mendenhall (http://books.google.com/
?id=SXICfoAHjP4C). Eisenbrauns. pp. 316. ISBN 0931464153.
• Pollock, Susan (1999). Ancient Mesopotamia: The Eden that Never was (http://books.google.com/
?id=2TlcUJUiE6sC). Cambridge University Press. pp. 259. ISBN 0521575680.
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